The idea of a cashless society is a hot topic these days.
Its an idea which has led to a lot of debate about hacking, AI, trust and even 666 the
mark of the beast and end times…
Truly a cashless society was never possible before now with our modern advancements…
or was it?
I am sure most people have a vague idea about feudal society.
At school we often learn about the middle ages and how in those days goods and services
would often be paid for by other goods and services.
But this was not a truly cashless society, and this sort of bartering was mostly only
conducted between lower members of society who in some cases had little access to money.
In fact one articles I was reading actually explained how sometimes whole regions and
societies ended up “cashless” in the middle ages because of shortages in coins and metals
like god and silver.
So the feudal society was a kinda cashless society in some instances, but not primarily.
Surprisingly we have to go back further, thousands of years further to the ancient Egyptians
to find a real cashless society.
Before the invasion of alexander the great in 332BC, and the greeks introduction of an
economy based on coins, the Egyptians lived in a pretty much cashless society.
Like modern people Egyptians worked to sustain their family and their lifestyle, and also
like modern people many were paid on a monthly basis.
One record (Deir el Medina) shows that local workers were paid on the 28th of each month.
Wages were paid in produce or services, and depending on the importance of the job wages
differed.
One high paying position from the same record, shows that they were paid 422.5 litres of
grain a month – enough for about 15 people.
Potentially leaving left ofver grain for shopping!
As well as grain, those working for the king got paid in other essentials like:
-fire wood -houses
-meat and fish -vegetables
-water -oil
sometimes workers would also get bonuses during religious holidays, as incentives and for
a job well done.
All goods had a relative value – the same as money today.
These values were based on a system of weighing and measuring.
Some examples of measurements used in transactions include:
Khar – this was a way of measuring grain.
1 khar = almost 77 litres Deben – used to weigh many objects, 1 deben
was equivalent to 91 grams of copper Kite – was used for silver and 1 kite = 0.6
deben Hin – used for liquids 1 hin = about one
pint or about 0.48 liters.
Which was worth 1 deben Medket – used for bigger amounts of liquid,
this was the same as 50 hin.
To show how this might work, in Deir el Medina here were the pirces of some daily items:
A simple chair – 11 deben A bed – 25
A table – 15 A cow – 4-50 (depending on size and condition)
A bull 95-120 A young servant girl – 410
So as you can see, cashless society did exist long before the modern trend, but to be honest
it did look very different.
What do you think?
Will we do a cashless society better than the aincents?
How do you feel about a cash less society.
Leave your comments bellow!